SerpApi.Org
In a new video posted on Tuesday, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said that he does not have the authority to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he were to come to New York City.
“My administration has reviewed every avenue available under applicable law to determine whether New York City could execute the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant if Benjamin Netanyahu came here,” Mamdani said in the video, which was posted on X and Instagram. “It is clear that we do not have the independent legal authority to enforce this warrant. The federal government, however, does, and I call on them to join the ICC and execute this warrant.”
The post comes after Mamdani told The New York Times that he was working with his administration’s legal team on how to execute the arrest of Netanyahu for his “alleged war crimes.”
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On Monday, President Donald Trump spoke about the situation on Truth Social, saying Netanyahu “will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form.”
The next time that the Israeli prime minister could visit New York would be to attend the United Nations’ general assembly. Netanyahu's office previously accused Mamdani of “diverting public attention from his follies and attacking the leader of the Jewish state and the only democracy in the Middle East,” per CNN.
Responding to Mamdani's video, Israel’s ambassador to the U.N., Danny Danon, said on X: “You were elected to serve New Yorkers, not Hamas’ propaganda. Do your job!”
In 2024, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders. The warrant accused them of war crimes during and after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel — allegations that Israel has denied.
Mamdani repeatedly called Israel’s military operations in Gaza a “genocide.”
The United States has not ratified the Rome Statute, which is the ruling that obliges countries to arrest individuals who have ICC warrants issued against them. CNN Senior Legal Analyst Elie Honig said that “the conduct of foreign diplomacy, foreign affairs, is entirely up to the federal government.”
Trump and former President Joe Biden condemned the ICC warrant against Netanyahu.
During Trump’s second term, his team escalated its battle against the ICC. Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently promising to “dismantle” the court.
“I want to be equally clear: Benjamin Netanyahu is not welcome in New York City, nor is any other war criminal at large,” Mamdani said in his video.
“While we cannot end the genocide on our own, we can decide whether our silence will become another weapon, and we can examine every tool we have to defend the humanity and dignity of all people,” he added.
On Sunday, Netanyahu’s office criticized the ICC and Mamdani.
“The ICC is a kangaroo court that has no jurisdiction over Americans or Israelis,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement on X.
